Civic mindedness is a must to fight corruption

(Part 1)

Filipinos of all social levels are strongly demanding that corrupt officials from the Government — especially from the Senate, the House, the departments of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and of Health (DoH), and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) — are actually sent to jail, together with private contractors and other business people involved in the flood control scandal that exploded before Christmas of 2025. They are disappointed that only “small fry” are actually being imprisoned.

Our efforts to minimize corruption in both the public and private sectors (after all, “it takes two to tango”) will not prosper unless we strengthen our weak institutions that directly address the problem of corruption. At this time, the highest priority should be assigned to the passage of four pending bills addressing the challenge of eliminating or at least reducing corruption. They are the Anti-Dynasty Bill, the Independent People’s Commission (IPC) Act, the Party-List System Reform Act, and the Citizens Access and Disclosure of Expenditures and National Accountability Act. President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. has given his full support to the passage of these legislative measures.

The appropriate strong institutions are necessary for any socio-economic reform, as is very well documented with strong empirical evidence in the book Why Nations Fail by James Robinson and Daron Acemoglu, winners of the Nobel Prize in Economics. For example, the Philippine inflation rate is at a record low of below 3% today because of the expert management of the best Central Bank in the ASEAN. Institution building has also been evident in the former NEDA (the National Economic and Development Authority, now the Department of Planning, Economy, and Development), the departments of Trade and Industry, of Agriculture, Foresty and Fisheries, of Finance (with the exception of the still corrupt BIR), and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Much still has to be done to get rid of corruption and inefficiency in the DPWH, which is at the center of the ongoing corruption scandal, the Department of Education, and the DoH.

Strong institutions, however, can only do so much if they have no support from the majority of the population. Unfortunately, most Filipinos lack the virtue of civic mindedness, the concern for the common good of the entire society. The loyalty and the love for others stops with most of us at the level of the extended family system. We are still mostly a feudal society inherited from our pre-colonial era. Each of us still belongs to a “family dynasty” which is what the extended family system boils down to. It is telling that the ongoing attempts to pass a bill that will ban political dynasties are being stalled by the difficulty of determining the degree of consanguinity at which an individual should be banned from running for an elective position at the same time and same political constituency as a relative.

To understand better the type of concern for the common good or the love we call “patriotism,” let us review the classic definition of the different types of love (or seeking the good of another) as defined in the classic book of British writer C.S. Lewis entitled The Four Loves.

Borrowing from the Greek philosophers of ancient times, C.S. Lewis suggested that there are four loves: storge in Greek (affection in English); philia (friend); eros (romantic); and agape (charity or divine love).

The most common and natural form of love (which is always the attraction of the human will to an object perceived as good) is affection. It is the most natural and common love. There is no effort of the will involved here; it is instinctive, such as the love of parents for their children. It is warm, familiar, and humble. It often grows quietly from daily life and shared experiences. As a rule, Filipinos are known to be affectionate people even to strangers. That is why our call center agents in the BPO-IT industry are highly appreciated, because of the affectionate manner that they deal with their customers. The same can be said of Filipinos or Filipinas who work here or abroad in the hospitality industry or in the nursing and caregiving profession.

Then there is the love of friendship (philia in Greek or amistitia in Latin). This is the love that exists between two individuals, regardless of gender, who share common interests, values, or pursuits. It is based on mutual respect and companionship and is considered by C.S. Lewis as a most rewarding form of love.

Some of the most outstanding forms of friendship in the Philippines is the bond that ties individuals who shared the same educational experiences in grade school or high school and are in touch with one another for the rest of their lives — even if they reside in different countries. Especially among middle class women, it is common for them to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of their graduation from high school or college.

Fortunately, this form of human is still deeply entrenched in Filipino society, in contrast with some other societies in the West where the bond of friendship among individuals has weakened to the extent that, especially among the youth, lonesomeness or loneliness has become a sort of a social disease. This trend has been abetted by the advent of Artificial Intelligence in which applications like ChatGPT have taken the place of real human friends. The breakdown of the family in some developed societies has also led to the declining role of friendship in human fulfillment since it is in the family that the bond of friendship is first developed.

As any human relationship, friendship has both its positive and negative features. Among the strengths of friendship are its being built on shared truth, values, and purpose. It is, in this most elementary form of human relations, where the individual is nurtured in virtue, honesty, and intellectual growth. Friendship is freely given, not compelled by nature. That is why, in some relationships, friends are treasured more than blood relatives.

There are, however, some perils in the love called friendship. It can become exclusivist or elitist, fostering group pride or moral blind spots. Friends in exclusive fraternities, especially among the economic elite, may foster group pride or moral blind spots. They may reinforce each other’s errors. There should be efforts to prevent bonds of friendship from being used for conspiratory loyalty, especially among soldiers.

C.S. Lewis notes that friendship groups can become dangerous when they see themselves as morally superior.

(To be continued.)

Bernardo M. Villegas has a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard, is professor emeritus at the University of Asia and the Pacific, and a visiting professor at the IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain. He was a member of the 1986 Constitutional Commission.

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